NCAA Tournament Bracket Still Could be Released

The 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket could be built and released by the selection committee.

The men’s and women’s tournament were canceled on Thursday. Multiple high-profile coaches, including Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, have lobbied for the release of the bracket to recognize the accomplishments of teams this season.

NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said Friday that NCAA might just oblige.

“We’re hearing today there’s interest from coaches and athletic directors from that,” Gavitt said in a CBS Sports interview Friday.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve shut down the idea completely, but there is, practically speaking, it’s a bit challenging at this moment. … There’s pluses and minuses to any decision. If you put the field together, you could have teams, depending on that conference’s policy, would not be the most obvious choice as the [automatic qualifier].

“It’s something we’re going to continue to look at. This has been so fast, so emotional, we’ll continue to think on it a little bit.”

The decision to cancel the postseason was reached by NCAA president Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors on the same day the conference tournaments, some of which were in progress, were abruptly ended.

“The decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities,” the NCAA said in a statement.

—Field Level Media